Guidance for school teams

Make informed decisions about AI in your school

Find practical guidance on governance, teaching, assessment and implementation, written for the teams deciding what responsible AI use should look like in their school.

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TopSchool cover reading AI literacy: Before independent use

Implementation Explainer 4 September 2026 6 minute read

AI Literacy for Students: What to Teach Before Independent Use

What do students need to learn before using AI on their own? Start with seven skills, from checking an answer to knowing when to leave AI out.

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Start with the decision in front of your team

Each topic covers one part of school-wide AI planning, from clarifying who owns a decision to reviewing what a pilot has taught you.

Governance2 resources

Who decides, advises and reviews?

Clarify who can approve an AI use case, who needs to be consulted and how decisions will be reviewed.

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Implementation5 resources

How should a pilot or rollout work?

Plan a manageable pilot, support teacher workflows and decide whether it is ready to expand.

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Leadership8 resources

How does AI fit the whole school?

Connect AI choices to curriculum, safeguarding, data, infrastructure and wider school priorities.

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Evidence7 resources

What should we learn before expanding?

Examine educational value, implementation signals and the limits of the evidence before using AI more widely.

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Resource library

Find guidance for your next decision

Search by keyword or filter by topic. The library brings together practical guides and selected TopSchool articles in one place.

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Showing 6 of 21 resources

TopSchool cover reading: Evaluating an AI vendor

Leadership Committee guide 3 September 2026 9 minute read

How Should a School Leadership Team Evaluate an AI Vendor?

A practical guide for school leaders, IT, academic teams and procurement deciding whether an AI provider deserves a closer look.

TopSchool cover reading: Questions Before an AI Pilot

Leadership Practical Playbook 3 September 2026 12 minute read

10 Questions to Ask an AI Provider Before Starting a Pilot

The demonstration is polished. Before your committee agrees to a pilot, use these questions to test the provider's answers, evidence and readiness for a real school setting.

TopSchool cover reading: Standardising AI Across the Network

Leadership School network guide 1 September 2026 8 minute read

What Should Be Standardised Across a School Network's AI Rollout?

Set common safeguards for AI use across a school network while keeping curriculum, teaching and local implementation decisions close to schools.

TopSchool cover reading: From One School To a Network

Implementation Implementation guide 27 August 2026 9 minute read

From One School to a Network: What Changes When AI Adoption Has to Scale

One school pilot can show what is possible, but not what will work everywhere. Learn how to identify what mattered, support the next schools and improve each stage of rollout.

Implementation Leadership perspective 24 August 2026 11 minute read

Schools Don't Need Every Teacher to Become an AI Expert

Every teacher needs enough AI literacy to exercise professional judgement. Schools should organise deeper policy, privacy, security, procurement and technical responsibilities around them.

TopSchool cover asking: When AI helped, what does the student understand?

Evidence Practical guide 18 August 2026 9 minute read

How Can Teachers Tell What a Student Actually Understands When AI Helped?

AI-assisted work may look polished without showing everything a student understands. Compare five proportionate follow-up methods and the limits of each.

Planning a school-wide approach to AI?

Talk with TopSchool about governance, school context, teacher workflows and a rollout your leadership, academic and technical teams can review together.

Discuss your school's approach

Make informed decisions about AI in your school

AI Literacy for Students: What to Teach Before Independent Use

Start with the decision in front of your team

Who decides, advises and reviews?

How should a pilot or rollout work?

How does AI fit the whole school?

What should we learn before expanding?

Find guidance for your next decision

AI Literacy for Students: What to Teach Before Independent Use

How Should a School Leadership Team Evaluate an AI Vendor?

10 Questions to Ask an AI Provider Before Starting a Pilot

What Should Be Standardised Across a School Network's AI Rollout?

From One School to a Network: What Changes When AI Adoption Has to Scale

Schools Don't Need Every Teacher to Become an AI Expert

How Can Teachers Tell What a Student Actually Understands When AI Helped?

AI Literacy for Teachers: Beyond Prompting

AI and Assessment in Schools: What Counts as Evidence of Learning Now?

Who should own AI governance in your school?

How to build the school-ready AI agent

Why school context is the missing layer in AI adoption

The summer AI reset: what schools should rethink before the next academic year

Generic AI vs school-aware AI for schools

What stronger AI adoption in schools looks like in practice

What school leaders should look for before scaling AI across schools

How to start an AI pilot without overloading teachers

Why schools need AI infrastructure, not just AI tools

TopSchool shortlisted for the National AI Awards 2025

Generative AI in education: threat or turning point?

TopSchool.ai partners with YouHua High School

Measuring educational impact in the age of GenAI: why it matters more than ever

Planning a school-wide approach to AI?